Faculty Profiles

BIO

Daniel Little, Ph.D., professor of philosophy. Little served as chancellor of the campus from 2000 to 2018. He received his A.B. in philosophy and B.S. in mathematics from the University of Illinois and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University in 1977. He also serves as professor of sociology at UM-Ann Arbor. Prior to coming to UM-Dearborn he taught at Colgate University, Wellesley College, and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, and he served as vice president for academic affairs and professor of philosophy at Bucknell University. During 1989-91 Little was a visiting scholar at the Harvard University Center for International Affairs.

Professor Little’s research interests include the philosophy and methodology of the social sciences, social causation and mechanisms, social and political philosophy, and China studies. He also has a sustained interest in the organizational causes of technology failures. Little has published more than 50 articles and book chapters in academic publications, and has presented more than 100 conference papers. Recent publications include “Disaggregating Historical Explanation” (Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Mechanisms, P. Illari and S. Glennan, eds., 2017), “Sociological Perspectives on Social Structure” (Cambridge Handbook of Sociology, K. O. Korgen, ed., 2017), and “Mechanisms and Method” (Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 2015). In addition Little has published two edited books and seven sole-authored books, including most recently New Directions in the Philosophy of Social Science (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016), New Contributions to the Philosophy of History (Springer, 2010), and The Paradox of Wealth and Poverty (Westview Press, 2003). Little has been invited to lecture on topics in the philosophy of social science in Europe, China, India, and the United States.